Rockmond Dunbar Loses Covid Vaccine โMandate Trial Against disney
Los Angeles – Aโ Los Angeles jury ruled against actor Rockmond Dunbar in his lawsuit alleging wrongful โtermination over Disney‘s Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Dunbar, formerly the ex-husbandโฃ ofโ Angela Bassett’s character on the Fox drama 9-1-1, was written off the show in late 2021 after โrequesting and being denied both medical and religious exemptions to theโข vaccine requirement for actors and Zone A workers.
Dunbarโข claimedโข his faith,as a member of the Congregation of Worldwide โWisdom,prohibited him from allowing “injections or chemicals in his body that ‘defy natural law.'” He initially filed โa 45-page complaint in 2022 seeking damages potentially reaching $1 million, allegingโข racialโค discrimination, claiming non-minority employeesโข who โrefusedโ vaccination were not terminated.
District Judge Dolly Gee dismissed some claims in March 2024, narrowing the case to three centralโค arguments: whether Dunbar held a sincerely held religious belief, whetherโ Disney โฃfailed to engage in a requiredโ interactive process,โ and whether reasonable accommodations were possibleโข withoutโฃ undue hardship.
During discovery, Disney presented evidence questioning the legitimacy of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom, founded by Walter โขP.โ Schilling, noting membership โrequires โonly a $1 payment and adherence to Schilling’s โขrules. Further, evidence revealed Dunbar was receiving testosterone injections eight times a month, along with other drugs delivered via injection โฃto counteract โฃside effects, contradictingโ his claim of avoiding chemicals inโฃ his body.
despite Dunbar’s assertion ofโ divine approval โคfor his anti-vaccine โขstance, the jury sided with Disney.
